Skype really is revolutionary
Yesterday I made my first Skype phone call. I just happened to be messaging another developer in Denmark (Olle), when he asked if my Skype was set up. I said sure. Within minutes we were chatting away over the "phone". I'd only set the mic up that morning, but not used my Skype set up yet.
Lol, as an aside, you should see my Mic setup (see previous 2 blog posts). It needs sorting. I've plugged in an SM58 vocal mic into a JoeMeek VC3Q compressor/exciter/equaliser. Then this whole lot gets fed into my laptop mic input. I need to buy a bluetoothe headset - but until then this will have to do 8-)
The quality was *ace*, with no lag at all. I noticed that if I distracted my CPU with GUI tasks, then things could slow a bit, but this was to be expected.
There was something a little odd about talking to Olle via phone. We'd been chatting about random nerdy topics via messanger for only about 3 days - and you really get used to a certain anonymity that a text medium gives.
Suddenly switching to voice mode with a virtual stranger makes things very different. Olle certainly doesn't feel like a stranger at all anymore! We also covered a lot of ground in our 20 minute chat. The first thing I discovered is that I'd pronounced his name wrong!...
To me this new medium is big. I realise that other messangers have had the ability to do voice channel also, but I've found them jerky and not that user friendly. Skype seems to be totally focused on voice communications, and that makes the difference.
IRC, MSN, AIM etc have all been great ways of networking and discussing issues with other folk around the globe. I think Skype has taken this to a new level by giving us reliable voice communications delivered with the ease and FREEdom of a messaging client. I wonder if the internet community is ready to really "talk" to each other!?...
posted by Tobin Harris @ Wednesday, May 04, 2005
1 Comments:
Oh, yes.
That phonecall was inspirational. First, Mr. Harris had the nerve to email me in the first place, asking for some assistance, which was brave. And then we sent some email, but I felt that was not fast enough, so I added a lump of usernames for different chat protocols, among them my Skype name.
When it turned out we both were from the same programming cult/subculture, and both rather newly TestInfected and both into refactoring, things got easier and easier.
You are never anonymous when calling another person. That is the strength of this thing.
The strength and wonderment of IRC during the cyber-nineties has been supplemented by The Regular Phonecall.
The virtualization of the situation is radically reduced, and real people can communicate more directly, with all the nuance and layering that comes with the human voice. That precisely that might be a double-edged weapon, is another discussion.
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